2 races - no PB....

I abandoned my blog!  And I've run 2 races. The Adidas Women's 5km Challenge in Hyde Park on the 7th  was a little disaster. With memories of being overtaken for an hour solid in the Bupa 10k I started at the 35 min wave thinking I would be able to do the overtaking for half an hour.  Wrong. I was literally stuck behind walkers for the whole of the first 1km even though they were supposed to be on the left. I tripped as I tried to jog through and somehow ended face to the floor. Someone stopped and helped me up and I was plastered with mud and blood. People passed me tissues as I ran for my bleeding arm. Oh the glamour! So what with that and the Rain it's a good job the after run bag was rammed full of goodies. 

Literally my next run was the Tree-a-thon on a glorious Saturday morning in Battersea Park The achilles problem means I can't train so I was a little nervous having not run for two weeks. My Godson and his mum came with us and enjoyed the pre race warm- up and other entertainment....  Had a nice steady but slow run with no mishaps!  32 mins.... The freebie bag was bare this year but they gave out free silver birch and oak saplings which are now re-potted and doing their best to survive in  containers in the  backyard.  There's a lovely atmosphere at tree-a-thon - people actually stay after the race and eat picnics etc. It was also  Open Door weekend in which you get access to the interiors  of lots of London landmark buildings so we popped into the FOSTER office post race - very corporate but huge and filled with loads of models and photos of all his incredible work and work-in-progress. Was interesting to see the models made from 3D printers and the thermal software models showing exactly how the sun would interact with different aspects of a proposed building...

The doctor has given me some ibuprofen gel for my achilles to try and bring down the inflammation  but i'm not going to be able to train for or run  the Royal Parks Half Marathon which is a real bummer. 

I might sign up for the Rainforest 10k at Finsbury Park in November instead - depends how the ankle manages some short maintenance runs....

Everything else is going ok .... been shooting...and writing...and paying the bills.... 

We have a new member of the family - a 14 yr rescue siamese with a torn ear, a scarred nose, a vision and hearing problem who's lovely sometimes but also a bit of a grump on occasion,  he's still settling in so hopefully he'll decide we're all ok and cheer up soon!

Nike Human Race 10k

I didn't make it up to Wembley.... but logged my  10k on the nike+ so should still get the finishers shirt sent out .I haven't been able to train due to injury so it was a  slow and hard 10k... 

STATS: 1.07 hour. 10kms. 715 cals. 

perfect timing..

love these retro shoes...

yay... i got the builders in for 4 days building  a lovely hardwood deck in my backyard... so i'm off work and in olympic tv heaven till tuesday...  did you see Bolt ''jogging'' his 100m heat ?unreal! 

did my 'speedwork' session  last night - the faster 1600m's really hurt the lungs. had to de-tour home for a toilet break but apart from that stuck to the programme with no walking. asthma still bad... hopefully it will clear soon. 7 miles scheduled for sunday. 

STATS : 5 Miles. 54 mins   3 miles at 10m pace  / 2 miles at 12m.

On the pod : MGMT

breathing is not optional !

i only had a 2 miler in my schedule for tuesday so i set off with no worries - in fact telling myself it will be over too soon and wondering if i should up the anti and find  a harder schedule... what a mistake... i couldn't breath! i had to use my inhalor about ten times - every step was unenjoyable... i got back and immediately looked up the pollution levels on the bbc site but they said 'low'.  half hour later it spat down buckets so i figured it had just been the air pressure... ran out of milk ..so walked to the shops and the breathing got bad again. maybe it's the ibuprofen. hmm.  on the positive side - i still abided by my self imposed rules - the schedule must be completed and no walking is allowed... so i'm gaining some discipline. next run in scheduled on thursday - it's speedwork-  i hope i have a better run and get my confidence back.

Half Marathon Training Week One - Completed :)

With the help of icing and painkillers  I've managed to get through my first week of my ten week half marathon training programme. The schedule called for an easy recovery run on tuesday of 2 miles... a tempo run on thursday of 5 miles ( warm up , three miles faster, warm down) and a long slow run of 6 miles today. ( this was on the treadmill)

all of this was completed at a suggested much slower pace than i normally run and it's therefore felt a bit  easier and i guess been a little kinder to my achilles although walking in between runs is still painful without the painkillers. 

my goal is just to be able to continue running so i'll continue the runs at these incredibly slow paces. it's nice to not feel so exhausted after the run anyhow and concentrating on pace rather than distance and time is a good distraction. 

STATS:

Sunday : 6.07 miles / 1.06 hours / 699 cals

On the Pod : MGMT

the nike+  run ( 31.08.08)  race packs are in - i'll take some photos of the t-shirt and post soon.  happy running 

Welcome to the World little William

Me and my new Nephew William born on 10th July. 48 hrs old in the pic... 

Arhh bless.... 

I really did intend to start my Half Marathon training schedule tonight but it seems the whole of London has been plagued by flying Ants. Forget it.

The Bupa Great Capital Run 10k

It was touch and go whether I'd be able to run this race today having suffered a nasty stomach bug since last Wednesday. I had the lovely Leon's Organic Superfood Salad for lunch which is normally SO delicious with the dressing but I remember thinking the dressing was all wrong and I hope they hadn't buggered up the recipe and it was just a one-off  bad day on the chef's part. It tasted kinda bitter but being oil-based didn't think it was too much of a problem- just too much lemon or something. I felt ropey Weds but put that down to being credit crunched in one of my jobs although to be honest it will turn out to be a blessing.  The next day the stomach pain and it's consequences were pretty severe and Friday was a complete right off. Sat was better so I tried to rehydrate as much as possible drinking upteen ribenas and black teas but actually didn't think I should run. I haven't done hardly any training at all - the right calf and achilles tendon still causing trouble every few miles... Ok so there's the long list of excuses and here's the race report. 

Set off at 8.20 after coffee, banana, yogurt and toast and met L. Arrived at  Hyde Park about 9 and we worked out where our warm-up areas were, collected our wrist split charts ( me 1.05 - wishfulthinking!  / L - 1.20 over modest! ), and helped ourselves to free caffeine laced lucozade.

There wasn't really enough loos  - are ALL races like this? so 20 - 25 people at each queue meant I missed the warm-up and wasn't in line till about a minute before we set off. 

The first 3 km or so felt comfortable - I had my new playlist to keep me company - but I guess I must have been going too fast as the nike+ was telling me I was doing 5.30km's so I tried to slow down. By 5KM everyone was passing me which was quite demoralizing. When I'd filled out the entry forms I'd been training well so put an estimated finish time of 1hr. My wave was White A - I wished I'd started back in the Green or Pink Wave.  By the 5km mark I was pretty hot/red and desperate for water which didn't turn up until the 5.5km mark... I had to stop for the toilet too and queue again but only for a couple of minutes. Alot of boys were just peeing up the side of trees which I thought was very wrong! poor trees! 

It was all downhill for me in the second half - I had to stop for walks about 6 or 7 times and the lack of training really showed, the ankle started it's boring complaining and even the kidneys started to hurt a bit...  Anyhow I did what I could and got in in the end in 1hr 10 mins.  L who hadn't even run 10k before got in in 1. 11 mins.  Yay for L!  I was impressed with the car wash type showers - they were refreshing but maybe I shouldn't have gone through them as my hair was just a mess of frizz by the end! 

Anyhow -on the whole the race seemed  well organized and of course Hyde Park really is beautiful - we went for a coffee by the lake after the race. The t-shirt is a nice old-school soft material and has a london logo skyline.  

Once we got back to mine and had showers I limped around the kitchen and made us this  ''reward dinner'' which is not something we usually allow ourselves to eat (red meat) -  Herb Beefburger and Fat Chips with Tomato and Pepper Relish in a Wholegrain Bun with a Bistro Beetroot and Tomato Salad. It was followed by yogurt, fresh blackberrys, nuts and honey.  So that's the 706 calories burnt well and truly replaced then. 

Next Race - the Nike+ 10k on 31.08.08 - I must train! - even if I can only cross-train most days.  

STATS:

Run : 10 km 

Time: 1 hour, 10 mins. 

Cals: 706